Gender parity in securitization also means policing language
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Gender parity in securitization also means policing language

The controversial all-male panel discussing Women in Securitization (WiS) at the SIFG conference in Las Vegas brought up valid points, but the industry must realize that lasting change has to include policing language.

Despite being composed entirely of men — a decision that raised a few pre-conference eyebrows  — the Women in Securitization panel at SFIG Vegas was a helpful contribution to a difficult discussion.

The topic of 'implicit bias' was high up the agenda — the idea that well-intentioned moves from senior management can actually make things worse. One panellist said, for example, that managers may hesitate to assign work requiring a lot of travel to women with families, impeding the path to the top for those women.

But the industry, which is still male-dominated, especially at a senior level — Deutsche Bank's new CIB executive committee has one woman, who is divisional CFO, rather than a product head — also needs to watch its mouth.

For example, using culturally awkward slang like “sisters doing it for themselves” in an attempt to commiserate only falls flat, and one of the panellist's example of bringing up Desperate Housewives and Real Housewives of Beverly Hills as topics to chat about with female co-workers, as opposed to football and golf with men, is not only condescending but also perpetuates the existing problem of the “old boys’ club”. 

Still, the efforts of Woman in Securitization are worthwhile. From the time the group kicked off its inaugural panel discussion in 2015 to their most recent at last year’s ABS East conference, the organization has at the very least, attempted to have one female speaker on each panel throughout the conference. 

It also has mentoring programs in several cities across the country to cultivate female talent at the junior level, giving them the support they need to succeed in the workplace.

Given that Wednesday is International Women’s Day, it is important to keep some statistics in mind. According to data offered by the WiS panel, only 2% of CEOs in the financial services industry are women, even though women make up 60% of the global workforce. 

The first step to upping these numbers, and removing implicit bias, is to start being mindful of the way we think and speak about women in general.

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